The rules that were placed not that long ago in China only allowed children under the age of 18 to play online games for one hour a day on the weekends. To be honest, I really don’t see the reason for this to be a rule in the first place. Sure, gaming addiction is a problem that should be dealt with, but for China to do this is really not necessary. 

To me, it should be up to the parents to decide something as important as this. I feel like the Chinese government should not be able to do this. How are you going to know how much the child plays, anyway? To me, parents know the child better in every way, they know how long they are playing every day and if they are playing too long they can just kick them off of whatever they are playing. 

Joshua Barnes, a student at Agua Fria, said, “Parents definitely should keep an eye on children’s playtime, set a time limit to at least 2-3 hours a day when everything else is complete. Children shouldn’t have their entertainment chosen from then when they get back from a long week of school.” 

I agree with Barnes. Gaming can be used in many different ways. It could be used as a stress reliever or it could be used as a reward. For example, if a parent says if you do very well in school, you will be allowed to play one hour of gaming today. 

It could also be a way for anyone to be able to communicate with their friends that they could have made online if that is one of the major ways they are able to communicate with each other if they don’t live near one another. It could also be a major communication between anyone in the online world even though they are not in the real world with being able to talk with people they could possibly have friends online that are able to play with them. 

If the child were to play too long, the parent can just do a simple turn-off of their internet so they can do something else for the day.

As I said before, China should not have any control over the amount of time that children under 18 should play. It should be up to the parents.